Religious right to judge: “Shut Up.”

… often involves partisans flailing about with statistics they don’t necessarily understand. Lets look instead at two individual cases.
Continue reading Regulation of Private Gun Ownership in the US … →

Just another stupid youtube video …
Continue reading New Math →

Keith Elam (July 17, 1966 – April 19, 2010[1]), better known by his stage name Guru, was an American rapper and member of the hip-hop duo Gang Starr. Born in the Boston neighborhood of Roxbury,[2]. The name Guru is a backronym that stands for Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal and the less often used God is Universal; he is the Ruler Universal, which are both references to the teachings of the Nation of Gods and Earths.

source
Continue reading Guru Dead →

On April 20th, 1999, at the Columbine High School in Colorado, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, shot to death 12 students, one teacher, and themselves. Twenty-one others were wounded by them, and additional individuals were wounded while escaping the massacre. Columbine . They also injured 21 other students directly, and three people were injured while attempting to escape. Columbine currently ranks as the fourth deadliest school massacre, but it remains the deadliest event of its kind in the US. (The three deadlier massacres were very different in numerous ways and should not be placed on the same scale. As a US K-12, shootings by students event, Columbine stands alone.)

The documentary Bowling for Columbine does a good job of placing this event in the broader context of gun regulation in North America.

Utterly insensitive, armed and dangerous gun rights advocates have often used Columbine as a place to make their case that guns should always be unregulated. The latest is the series of pro-gun rallies held on Monday.

Today is the fifteenth anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City by Timothy McVeigh with an assist from three others. That bombing was carried out in part as retaliation by McVeigh for a percieved slight at Ruby Ridge in 1992. That bombing is an example of the material outcome of hate speech of the kind we are seeing increasingly today by Republicans, Teabaggers and the like. One hundred and sixty eight people were killed by McVeigh and his right-wing conspirators, including 19 little children (there was a day care center at the facility).
Continue reading Yes, hate speech kills. Remembering Oklahoma City →

Global People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth
Continue reading Conferencia Mundial de los Pueblos sobre el Cambio Climático y los Derechos de la Madre Tierra →

Obama pwns little what’s his name for asking dumbest question evah.

Oliver North on How To Be a Good American (OMG!)

Djou: Playing Politics with Our Economic Recovery

And finally, …. A handful of political cartoons

But you need to go to IDAHO to see it!

Which is true:

PZ Myers is a witless wanker who peddles pablum

or

“I shall be no friend to the appeasers” -pz myers

… kind of a false comparison. But the debate is real. This time it’s

Massimo Pigliucci vs. PZ Myers

Two people that i like and admire fighting it out over an important issue. What could be more fun? The popcorn will be ready in a minute.

Bachmann’s health care claims falter

Bachmann has said the new health care act will unleash a wave of new federal funding for abortion … contrary to Bachmann’s claims, the law doesn’t fundamentally change federal policy on abortion …a Bachmann spokesman has backed off her prediction…

Tea Party rally cost taxpayers nearly $14k

…Bachmann solidified her place in the national spotlight … when she gathered thousands of Tea Party activists in front of the U.S. Capitol for a “House Call on Washington,” to stop the Democrats’ health care bill….. Months later, official expense reports show that the boisterous, 10,000-person rally to rein in big government and stop runaway spending cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $14,000.

The April 14th Tea Party Rally: A Cup of Rather Weak Tea

The rally was truly weird–and not just due to the stated purpose. There were probably as many people opposed to the Tea Buggers as there were Tea Buggers. We anti-Tea Buggers were ready to roll…and it was really dull. Seriously, break out the Barcaloungers….